My color scheme will be different than the inspiration photo, since I don’t do orange in my house. Sorry!! to all of your orange lovers!!

I will be using dark lime, umber brown and cream.

Yesterday my hubby brought in a plank of wood to measure how long I wanted the box. At first I thought I would want it to be 5 ft. long on my 8ft table. Once the plank was placed on the table I could tell it needed to be just a smidge shorter. 4’6” seems to be the perfect length. I want to allow enough space for my place settings to fit.

We wound up going to Lowes and buying the most beat up fence boards they had,since I wanted a rustic looking box. We were lucky to have a very helpful clerk that allowed us to try out some stains.

The pine boards are very porous so I knew the stain would really soak in. I am so glad that hubby is taking over that job!! Whew!!!

We decided on a dark walnut stain. I did not want it to have any red in the base. The walnut stain seemed to do the trick.......

He put the box together and brought it in to see if the size was right before he finished staining the inside of the box.

The size was just right!! He finished staining the interior and the ends of the box. Now the box is doing a little sunbathing on our deck so the smell of the stain will dissipate. I don’t think the fragrance of stain will mix well with turkey and stuffing, do you?!!

While the box is sunbathing I taped a template of the box on top of my tablecloth. By doing this I can see exactly where the box is to be placed and also I can work on figuring out the elements I will be using and how many of each element I will need.

You will have to use your imagination here. This is not exactly how it will look, but it gives me a very good idea of what I need to purchase to complete my look.

All the items will be elevated so they will vary in heights. I am not sure if I will include the birch wrapped candle holders or not. I am not sure I will need any more wood texture with the wood box. We shall see??

So far I am really pleased with the direction this is going.

Next on the agenda is to go foraging out in the park for some curly willow and various natural elements that can work with my scheme. Why buy what nature has to offer for free!!!